Little more than a week after enduring days of spreadsheet and database training, recent graduates of IRE’s Boot Camp in Minneapolis have produced quick-hit stories with their new computer-assisted reporting skills.

• An analysis by Jason Hoppin of The Pioneer Press found new voter registrations in Minnesota have pushed that state’s registrations to an all-time high. “Half of the new registrations come from three counties that voted heavily for John Kerry in 2004, potentially giving Democratic hopeful Barack Obama a boost in a critical battleground state as the 2008 presidential election enters the homestretch.”
• New building permits are easier ...

Read more ...

A $100,000 grant from the McCormick Foundation will allow us to continue and expand our Ethnic Media Watchdog program. The funding will support a series of regional workshops that will bring low-cost, high-quality training on local, regional and national topics to journalists working in small- to medium-sized ethnic media organizations in areas throughout the U.S. Participants learn techniques and tips that help them add depth to their stories and to do work that has greater impact in their communities. To date, IRE has conducted Ethnic Media Watchdog seminars in Chicago, New York, Minneapolis and Atlanta for more than ... Read more ...

In Kansas, reporters often must wait for public records to be extracted from a salt mine. After a few years, records required to be retained are stored deep underground at a giant salt mine complex in Hutchinson. That’s one of the many tidbits we learned last weekend during a Watchdog Workshop at Wichita State University. More than 50 print and TV journalists attended the event, which also included hands-on training in using Excel spreadsheets. Here are a few tips from the workshop that you might find useful:

• Nothing in Kansas state law prevents someone in a closed meeting from ...

Read more ...